New Mural Underway in Lac du Flambeau

Kids in Lac du Flambeau are working on a mural project this summer. The public art will be displayed on the side of the George W. Brown Ojibwe Cultural Museum.

Lac du Flambeau youth are working on a mural for the side of the Ojibwe Cultural Museum.

Credit Natalie Jablonski / WXPR News

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About twenty five kids have spent the past month helping out on the mural project, which won a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Greg Johnson is one of the project leaders. He says he worked with the kids to design the mural.

“And they’re gonna depict various plants and medicines from our Lac du Flambeau reservation, as well as some of the beadwork that’s found in the museum," explained Johnson. "Me and the students we walked in there and checked out the old beadwork and quillwork, and decided that we’d pick some of those.”

“The background is black and there’s just like blueberries and birds and wild rice – cultural stuff.”

That’s 12-year-old Lorrina and 10-year-old Aubrianna whose hands are still splattered with paint. They say the project has been both easy and difficult.

“You had to do it almost perfect," Lorrina said. "Make it look cool.”

The mural is made up of four panels, each about 8 feet long and 4 feet tall. Greg Johnson says he’s been surprised by how much the kids have embraced the project, working on it two hours a day, five days a week.

“To them, it’s a fun art project," he said. "To me it was something a little more. So at first I took it very serious with the kids, I told em you have to stick it out and work hard. They just made it fun every day. We get together, we share some food, laughs, we tease each other, we paint, and it’s great.”